Adrian Covert

135 years ago today, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded a patent for what would eventually become known as the telephone (one of his minor inventions among many others, NBD). This is one of the first sketches that led to his Eureka! moment, complete with a description of what it was:

As far as I can remember, these are the first drawings made of my telephone—or "instrument for the transmission of vocal utterance by telegraph." -A. Graham Bell

It's a bit strange to imagine the telephone being such a foreign concept to people. Hopefully I live long enough to experience about an equally mind-blowing innovation. [Library of Congress via The Atlantic]